LGBTQ activists in Kansas City, Kansas, have identified a recent murder victim as a transgender woman.
According to The Kansas City Star, police launched a homicide investigation into the shooting death of a young victim last Friday, September 13. The victim, who was unnamed by police but died of gunshot wounds at a nearby hospital, was said to be in their 20s.
Initially, authorities identified the victim as a man. But locals claim the victim in question was misgendered and is actually Ja’leyah-Jamar, a black trans woman, The Advocate reports. In a Facebook post, Adriana Sanders, Ja’leyah-Jamar’s cousin, posted a tribute to her slain family member:
Ja’leyah-Jamar didn’t ask for this life… No one can control WHO they love God made us to live and love and to grow… It’s not our fault as a Transgender woman or a homosexual man to want to live a normal life… wanting to be in love have a family build your own legacy and because a Man could not accept who he was as himself and individual he felt the need to take my cousin’s life. Ja’leyah-Jamar didn’t ask for this life… No one can control WHO they love God made us to live and love and to grow… It’s not our fault as a Transgender woman or a homosexual man to want to live a normal life… wanting to be in love have a family build your own legacy and because a Man could not accept who he was as himself and individual he felt the need to take my cousin’s life.